Bicycles, tricycles and other pedaled vehicles are some of the most popular items with children and adults alike. Such pedaled vehicles are typically manufactured and shipped to various retail outlets in an unassembled state. Some retail outlets may offer a service of assembling the pedaled vehicle for the customer. However, in many instances, such a service may not be offered or the consumer chooses to forego the service and assemble the pedaled vehicle at home. In any event, conventional assembly of the pedaled vehicle typically requires the retail outlet or the consumer to have various tools for implementing assembly.
By way of example, in many instances, the pedals of the vehicle will have to be coupled to the vehicle during assembly. In this regard, pedals typically have a threaded stem extending from one end of the pedal that is inserted within a correspondingly threaded bore in the arm of the vehicle's crank. The stem may include a non-circular portion (e.g., hexagonal portion) configured to receive a tool, such as a wrench, for tightening the threaded stem within the bore so as to secure the pedal to the crank. When assembly is performed at the retail outlet, such tool-based assembly can be costly and time consuming. Moreover, improper assembly by the retail outlet can be a source of consumer frustration and/or product return. When assembly is performed by the consumer in the home setting, for example, tool-based assembly can be the source of consumer frustration, and may likewise result in product return if the assembly process becomes too complex or daunting.
For these and other reasons, manufacturers of pedaled vehicles have been moving in a direction of tool-less assembly of the vehicles, including, for example, the tool-less assembly of the pedals to the vehicle. In this regard, various quick-connect pedal designs have been proposed. These prior designs are based on quick-connect systems in other industries and generally include a metal, generally cylindrical housing having a passageway formed therethrough and which is received within the bore of the crank arm. A biased occluding member, such as one or more spring-biased ball bearings, extends into the passageway, but is capable of being moved outwardly thereof. The stem of the pedals generally includes a groove or shoulder configured to receive the occluding member therein so as to couple the pedal to the vehicle. The occluding member and groove are configured such that the pedal may be inserted into the passageway of the housing with relatively little force, but requires a considerably larger force to remove the pedal from the housing.
Such quick-connect designs, however, are not without their drawbacks. In this regard, such designs are not completely tool-less. More particularly, the housing is generally coupled to the bore of the crank via a threaded connection that requires tool-based assembly. Additionally, such designs are, in many cases, more complex in that they utilize multiple movable parts and may also increase the costs of the vehicle. For example, to withstand the structural loads, the quick-connect housing is generally made of stainless steel or the like.
Thus, there remains a need for a pedal design which may be coupled to a pedaled vehicle in a tool-less manner and which is relatively simple in its design and cost effective in its manufacturing and implementation.